


Connecticut Christmas

by payback16



Category: The X-Files
Genre: But Also Wholesome-ness, Christmas, F/M, Light Angst, Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28186491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/payback16/pseuds/payback16
Summary: Christmas with Teena Mulder brings Mulder and Scully closer.
Relationships: Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 18
Kudos: 125
Collections: X-Files Secret Santa Fanfic Exchange (2020)





	Connecticut Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Theatre_In_The_Dark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theatre_In_The_Dark/gifts).



> This is for Kristin who asked for the prompt  
> "Season 7, Mulder is heading to spend Christmas with Teena, Scully comes along. Mulder and Scully grow closer as a couple."
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Thank you to Stef for the beta and for managing all my crazy and helping this fic to come together.

Fat flakes of snow floated down from the sky, landing on the heated windshield and melting immediately as Mulder pulled off I-95 at the exit for Greenwich, Connecticut. A few inches had already accumulated on the ground. It was just starting to get dark and the snow was expected to continue to fall well into the night. They'd wake in the morning to a white Christmas.

It had been more than a decade since Mulder had spent Christmas with his mother, since before the X-Files, and he had no idea what had prompted her to reach out with an invitation this year. 

The last time he had seen her he’d been strapped to a hospital bed, unable to speak, and she’d signed him out against medical advice. Into the care of the Smoking Man. He could have asked her why, but that question hadn’t been met with a straight answer since 1973 so he didn’t see the point. 

He reached for a handful of seeds from the cupholder, but was stopped by a cool hand. Scully slipped her fingers between his and guided their clasped hands over the center console to rest in her lap. He glanced over, catching her eyes and instantly feeling more at ease. 

Their relationship had recently shifted from partners to something more, though still undefined, and there was no denying this was a big step. She’d met his mother before, but that had always been in the line of duty. The last time Mulder brought home a significant other had been Diana. He shook off the thought. 

While he knew her family was far from perfect, the Scully clan was a lot more like the typical nuclear family than his own and he hoped she wouldn’t feel let down by a Mulder Christmas. 

Even though she never said it, he knew the holiday was hard for her, tainted by the losses of her father and daughter right around this time of year. It was the reason she had declined to join Maggie on her travels out to San Diego to spend the week with Bill Jr. and his family. Mulder hadn’t wanted her to spend the day alone so he’d offered to host a Christmas movie marathon, even though the only VHS in his collection that could possibly qualify as such was Die Hard. He’d practiced a convincing argument in his head, but had been pleasantly surprised when she agreed easily. 

He should have known it was too good to be true. A few days later he got the call from his mother and plans had changed. He hadn’t wanted to abandon her, but Scully insisted that he go. She wasn’t his girlfriend and was under no obligation to spend the holiday with him, and certainly not with his mother, but he wanted her there. Apparitions and hallucinations of attempted murder aside, last Christmas Eve had been the best one Mulder had had in longer than he could remember. It was no secret that the reason for that was a certain enigmatic petite redhead. It took some light begging and a lot of oral sex, but eventually he’d managed to convince her to come with him. 

As he pulled up to the curb in front of his mother’s house and cut the engine, he was already immensely grateful for her grounding presence. When nothing else in his life made sense, there was always Scully.

* * *

Even with his hands full of their overnight bags, Mulder held the gate open for Scully. She was loathe to admit it but she loved his small chivalrous gestures, which would have felt paternalistic coming from any other man. Snow crunched underneath their boots as they walked up the pathway to white Colonial house. Mulder’s parents were well-off, she knew, but the house wasn’t overly lavish. Still it was nothing like the cookie-cutter Navy base housing she’d grown up in. 

At the top of the steps, Mulder knocked twice on the blue-green door and waited. It was just a few moments before Teena opened the door, welcoming them in out of the brisk evening air. An uncharacteristic smile graced the older woman’s patrician lips. Granted, Scully had only spent time in her company during moments of tension or sorrow, her ex-husband’s funeral and Mulder’s ketamine-induced trip down memory lane coming to mind. She couldn’t help but feel protective of Mulder and hoped they could make it through the next twenty-four hours without a repeat of that incident between mother and son. A smile was a good start. 

Teena welcomed them into her home and the minute Mulder dropped their bags by the doorway, she was pulling him into an embrace. Scully watched as Mulder tensed for a moment, but soon softened into the hug. He brought one hand up to cup his mother’s head, silver hair slipping between his fingers. 

“It’s good to see you son,” she said gently. 

“You too, Mom.” Scully’s heart tugged. Their relationship might be fraught, but she had no doubt what his mother meant to Mulder. She would never forget the way he’d fallen apart after her stroke, despondent and desperate for a cure. 

“And Dana?” Teena pulled back and turned to face Scully. “Thank you for coming.” 

“Thank you for having me.” 

“Of course. You’re just in time for dinner, actually. Fox, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?” Mulder looked to his partner automatically and she nodded her approval. 

“Dana, please get settled in. Make yourself at home.” Another smile and Scully watched the pair disappear down the hallway. 

* * *

Laid out on the kitchen island was a large bowl of fresh salad, along with various other sides, including asparagus and potatoes. There was also a box from his mother’s favorite bakery that no doubt held dessert.

“Would you check the salmon and see if it’s done?” Teena asked, reaching into the fridge for a package of cherry tomatoes. 

Mulder slipped on a pair of plaid oven mitts and reached into the oven to pull out the fish.

“You look healthy, Fox,” she said, dumping the tomatoes into the salad and tossing it with a pair of oversized wooden forks. 

“I feel good.” That was all they would say on the matter, he knew. And he was okay with it. For now.

“So, you and Dana?” She continued. 

He knew what she was asking, he had the same question. But he wasn’t about to share the complexities of their relationship with his mother, so instead he nodded as he unwrapped the salmon from the foil, releasing an aroma of lemon and pepper, “Yeah.”

“That’s nice.” 

* * *

After slipping off her wet boots on the mat, Scully wandered from the entryway into the living room. She hadn’t made it this far into the house the only time she’d been here. It was your average upper-middle class living room, decorated tastefully with traditional furniture, muted colors, and floral prints. In the corner was a Douglas fir at least a few feet taller than Mulder, adorned with white lights and silver and red baubles. Candles lit throughout the room smelled of Christmas cookies, gingerbread and vanilla. On the mantle above the fireplace were a few assorted pictures in gold frames and Scully stepped closer to examine them.

A posed photo of Mulder, no older than five, dressed in a dark sweater and khakis, with baby Samantha in a matching dress on his lap. They grinned toothily at the camera. Another shot, just a few years later, featured the two children playing on the beach. Quonochontaug, she assumed. Mulder was holding the string of a kite and Samatha was staring at her big brother in awe. Finally, there was a picture of Teena and Mulder from his Oxford graduation. They squinted into the sun, neutral expressions on their faces. Scully couldn’t help but think of the photos from her own college and medical school graduations. Even her stoic sailor father had been beaming with pride.

As his partner and friend of seven years, and now more, Scully sometimes took for granted being the closest person in Mulder’s life. But standing here in his mother’s house, she was reminded that she wasn’t as much of an expert on Fox Mulder as she thought. Always a voracious learner, she wanted to know more. She wanted to know everything about this man, but she’d always been afraid to ask. Afraid of crossing some invisible boundary they’d wordlessly established seven years ago. 

Somehow it had been less scary to finally- _finally-_ capture that plump bottom lip between her own one night in his apartment over pizza and a movie just a few weeks ago. They had touched and tasted every inch of each other that night; it was the most erotic experience of Scully’s life. Better than anything she had ever imagined, and she had imagined a lot over the years of stakeouts and adjoining motel rooms. Repeat performances had taken place every weekend since, but of course they didn’t talk about it. It was a habit she wanted desperately to break, but after so many years relying entirely on unspoken communication, it was like the muscles had atrophied.

She was pulled from her thoughts when a pair of strong arms slid around her waist, a chin resting on her shoulder. Scully brought her own arms up to wrap around his. It felt normal. Like something a couple would do. “I think there might be more pictures in an album on the bookshelf,” he murmured into her ear. “But first, dinner’s ready.” 

* * *

Dinner was delicious and Scully noted that Mulder had not taken after his mother in culinary aptitude. They made small talk over the meal, avoiding subjects like alien abductions, brain surgeries, lost sisters. The wild conspiracy theories that found their way into almost all her conversations with Mulder were noticeably absent. Instead he asked after various relatives and ladies from the country club. They talked about local politics, real estate prices, what a mild December they’d been having.

After dinner they lounged in the living room; a fire that Mulder had made crackled in the hearth, the occasional pop punctuating their conversations. Scully followed Mulder’s lead, not wanting to step on a minefield by introducing a topic that made anyone uncomfortable when things were going so smoothly. At one point she slipped out to call her family and wish them a merry Christmas Eve. When she came back the two were actually laughing. Mulder’s laugh was almost identical to his mother’s.

“Would anyone else care for a cup of hot cocoa?” Teena asked, wrapping her red cardigan a little tighter around herself. “I’m afraid I don’t have any of those little marshmallows you like, Fox.” 

“That’s alright, Dr. Scully’s always on me about my sugar intake anyway,” he chuckled, a warm hand coming to rest on Scully’s thigh. 

“Speaking of which, I’ll pass on the cocoa but maybe some tea if you have any?” Scully looked to Teena.

“Of course,” she nodded. “Fox, would you mind making us our drinks?” 

“Sure, Mom.” Before standing up, Mulder squeezed Scully’s thigh lightly. She glanced down at her lap, missing the heaviness of the appendage as soon as it was gone. 

In moments he was out of earshot, leaving Teena and Scully alone for the first time all night. The night had gone well so far, Mulder seemed content, which was all that mattered to her, but still she felt her guard up with Teena. She might not know everything, but it was evident that so many of the fissures on Mulder’s heart had been caused by his parents. 

The older woman cleared her throat and Scully brought her gaze up, meeting eyes as intense and hazel as the ones she cherished most. 

“Dana, I want to thank you.”

Scully blinked. “Oh. For what?” 

“Fox,” she said. “You look out for him.”

“Well, we are partners. I-”

“Dana.”

Scully drew her tongue along her bottom lip, always a nervous habit. 

“I know you care for him and I know he is safe with you. And as his mother, I want to thank you for that.” There was an emotion in her eyes that Scully couldn’t read. While she saw a lot of Mulder reflected in his mother, his vulnerability was clearly not an inherited trait. But it felt as though Teena was handing off a baton she’d been carrying for far too long. 

“You’re welcome,” Scully replied sincerely, feeling the weight of the conversation settling over her. They sat in comfortable silence until Mulder returned, juggling three steaming mugs. 

* * *

The sheets on the guest bed were softer than anything Scully had ever felt and she moaned in delight as she settled in. It was just a minute before the bed dipped as Mulder came to lay down behind her, claiming his usual side of the bed. They had sides of the bed now. He reached for her immediately, his arm over her waist, lips brushing her hair as he spoke. “In case I haven’t said it, thank you for being here with me, Scully. I know this isn’t how you would have wanted to spend your holiday-”

“I wanted to spend it with you, Mulder,” she interrupted, not wanting him to question himself for a moment longer. 

“Really?”

“Do you really think I drove out to that house to meet you last year because I was in the mood for ghost-busting?”

“Apparitions, Scully.”

“Shut up.” She rolled over and stared into his eyes, hoping to say so many things she couldn’t find words for. When she saw the look of recognition wash over his face, she leaned in and kissed him lightly. “I did it because I wanted to see you, spend time with you. I always want to.”

“Me too.” Mulder reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger before settling on her jawline and guiding her mouth to his for another kiss. Slower, more intimate this time, mouths tasting of peppermint toothpaste and deep affection. 

Caught up in the kiss, Scully hooked a leg around Mulder’s hip, pressing herself closer to him, feeling his burgeoning erection against her center. She moaned into his mouth and nipped at his bottom lip. 

But when she felt his quick fingers begin to make work on the buttons of her pajama top, she pulled back, hands covering his. 

“Mulder,” she chastised. “We can’t. Your mom is just down the hall.” 

She looked regretful though and he thought he might still have an opening, bringing his mouth to her neck and sucking gently. “And? This wouldn’t be the first time I made out with my girlfriend in my mom’s house,” he mumbled into her heated skin. 

“Girlfriend?”

“Oh, I didn't mean-” He pulled back, eyes wide in apology. 

“No,” she smiled. “Girlfriend.” She wrapped a small hand around his neck, fingering the soft hairs there and bringing his mouth back down to her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Feedback is welcomed and always appreciated! :)  
> Happy holidays!


End file.
